STS.436 Cold War Science

As taught in: Spring 2004

Level:

Graduate

Instructors:

Prof. David Kaiser

Photo of Chernobyl's Reactor #4.
Photo of Chernobyl's Reactor #4. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Neff & Energy Information Administration.)

Course Description

The history and legacy of the Cold War on science is examined in a seminar setting for this course, looking predominantly at examples in the United States. Topics range from exploring scientists' new political roles after World War II as elite policy-makers in the nuclear age to their victimization by domestic anti-Communism. The course next examines the changing institutions in which the physical, biological, and social sciences were conducted during the postwar decades, investigating the links between institutions and epistemology. The course closes by considering the place of science in the post-Cold-War era.
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